OGKN hosts biggest virtual karate event in the country

This past weekend Okinawan Goju-Ryu Karate Namibia once again made history by hosting its first-ever online national grading.The grading, which was attended by 108 karateka, was the largest virtual karate event to be hosted in the country.Okinawa Goju-Ryu Karate Namibia and its students are no strangers to online training, having first started with virtual training back in 2020 after the first wave of the Covid-19 pandemic. For the past month, OGKN has once again opted to take its classes online for the safety of its members and to help curb the increasing spread of the virus."We will always do our best to prioritise the health and safety of our members whilst doing our best to maintain the high level of training we are known for," said Sensei Carl van der Merwe.With the first national grading of the year set to take place at the end of June, OGKN decided to take on the challenge of hosting the event on a strictly online basis. Members from all three dojos (Honbu, Shinto and Walvis Bay), logged on from home to perform their grading examinations. Most notably, the event was also attended internationally, with three members logging on to grade from the United States of America.OGKN is proud to announce the following additions to its black belt ranks:Reino Hansen - 2nd DanJaco Steyn - 1st DanAlbert-John Rickerts - 1st DanJoshua Kunneke - 1st DanOkinawan Goju-Ryu Karate Namibia is incredibly proud of its new black belts, and all of the karateka who passed their gradings this weekend. Van der Merwe further expressed excitement about the new addition to the black belts."I am tremendously proud of our new black belts, and all of the karateka who passed their gradings this weekend,” he said.“The primary goal of our national grading has always been to acknowledge the hard work and dedication of our students. “Although we could not get together in person this time, we still wanted the students to have the same grading examination experience as they normally would.”

OGKN hosts biggest virtual karate event in the country

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Namibian Sun 2025-09-03

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OGKN hosts biggest virtual karate event in the country

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Namibian Sun 2025-09-03

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